By Marc D'Amico
Celtics.com
September 28, 2012
Kevin Garnett joined the set of Celtics.com's Media Day LiveWire with Molly McGrath and Marc D'Amico.
Pat Walcek/Boston Celtics
WALTHAM, Mass. - The look of a new season doesn’t arrive with the sight of fall foliage. Instead, it arrives with the sight of players roaming the practice facility in Waltham, Mass., for the first time in months.
The Boston Celtics on Friday returned to their facility as one unit for the onset of the 2012-13 season. This was the first time that the entire team had been together in a single location.
Celtics.com was right in the thick of the action, as it hosted a live Web show on its homepage. Molly McGrath and Marc D’Amico interviewed nearly the entire roster, Doc Rivers and several media members during the three-hour show. As one might expect, there was a lot of information that filtered out over those few hours, so here’s a quick list of what you might have missed:
- Jason Terry is a popular man. Almost every person who held a microphone on the set expressed their happiness that Terry is now wearing green and white. He wasn’t shy about his love for the Celtics and what he plans on bringing to the team, either. “My go-to is dribbling strong right, pulling up, stopping on a dime and draining [shots] – especially in the fourth quarter, when it’s winning time.”
- Many people in the facility believe that Rajon Rondo is the best point guard in the NBA. Terry told a story about his former teammate, Jason Kidd, declaring Rondo the best point guard in the league after a game last season. Rondo agrees, telling Celtics.com viewers that, “I think I’m one of, if not the best point guard in the league, as far as passing the ball.”
- Doc Rivers now has a ton of versatility in his lineups. He sent out 19 different starting lineups last season and he plans on substantially reducing that number. Still, though, with the perimeter additions of Terry and Courtney Lee, this season’s draft picks and many free agent big men, Rivers will be able to accomplish whatever he wants (i.e. small ball, big lineups, etc.) when it comes to lineups – as long as the C’s stay healthy.
- Jeff Green is happy that he’s back in a Celtics jersey. He explained that he never really considered going anywhere else, and that by signing back with Boston, he now has, “the best point guard in the NBA (and) the best coach in the NBA” by his side.
- Rondo organized workouts for the entire team this summer at UCLA. That much is not a secret, but this is: in the 17 prior seasons that Kevin Garnett has been in the league, he has never been a part of something like that.
- Jess Camerato of CSNNE.com reported live on Celtics.com that Paul Pierce wants to retire with Garnett, whenever that time may come.
- Speaking of Pierce, the man is in shape. From the moment he walked into the gym, it was obvious that he had worked hard this summer and his body is ready to go. He joked on the broadcast that he is “97.3 percent” healthy after recovering from a knee injury he suffered in last season’s playoffs.
- Rivers declared yet again that the plan is to start Courtney Lee at shooting guard and have Terry come off of the bench. Both players are accustomed to those roles, and Rivers likes that.
- Chris Wilcox, one of two Celtics who are returning from heart surgery, is ready to hit the ground running when practices begin on Saturday. He does, however, admit that he still needs to get in better shape and that doing so has been more difficult than it was prior to his surgery.
- Longtime Celtics fan favorite Brian Scalabrine will be working for CSN this season as an in-game color commentator. He worked with the network during last season’s playoffs as a guest commentator before and after games, but he’s excited to try out a new role of live game analysis. He did admit that he expects some hiccups along the way, but he’s excited for the new opportunity, particularly since he will be working in a city that loves him so much.